


Of the Sixth of December and Broken Heaters

by Thegreenofyoureyes



Series: Christmas Fics 2015 [6]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 10:22:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5371784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thegreenofyoureyes/pseuds/Thegreenofyoureyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was 3 in the afternoon on the 6th of December, and Strange Neighbor had just gotten home, which was odd. Luke decided not to mind it, though, and to wait for another time to confront him about the banging. There was no need to rile the guy up when he had just gotten home, after all. He did look muscular enough to beat Luke to a pulp, and the duplex was technically his. Really, he could wait for a friendly encounter to *politely* bring it up. </p><p>Or, Ashton is a strange neighbor. He breaks something and fluffy shenanigans ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of the Sixth of December and Broken Heaters

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Tanniri on Tumblr I love you

When Luke had agreed to watch his grandmother’s duplex for the winter while she went to some nice tropical island full of hot people and no snow, he had actually been looking forward to it. A while alone, albeit in a cold, dark place, was a welcomed change to his usual extended-family-saturated holiday experience. Of course, he was planning on going home for the actual day of Christmas, but he *just* didn't need a whole month of his uncles arguing about politics. 

He wouldn't have agreed to watch the house, probably, if he had known just what the other owner of the duplex was like. He was up at odd hours of the mornings, banging on things, and he never seemed to be home at appropriate times to talk. From what Luke had seen of him, he was loud, muscular, and always on the move. These were all great traits in, say, an entertainer, but they were less than fun to share a wall with. Oh well, he was stuck now, and when the strange neighbor was out, he had a great deal of peace that simply wouldn't exist with his uncles’ yelling about global warming. Uncle Robbie was right, for the record, the world was getting hotter and *the penguins were dying*. 

It was 3 in the afternoon on the 6th of December, and Strange Neighbor had just gotten home, which was odd. Luke decided not to mind it, though, and to wait for another time to confront him about the banging. There was no need to rile the guy up when he had just gotten home, after all. He did look muscular enough to beat Luke to a pulp, and the duplex was technically his. Really, he could wait for a friendly encounter to *politely* bring it up. 

This was what he was telling himself, at least, after a particularly large bang that, truth be told, shook the floor a bit. Just a bit. He could wait, it wasn't a big deal. And the big one seemed to have been the only bang for the half hour immediately after it. Which was nice at first, but quickly became disconcerting. Like, how was Luke supposed to know Strange Neighbor was alive if he wasn't banging around?

More disconcerting, however, was the fact that the temperature of Luke’s unit appeared to be increasing at an almost exponential rate. At first, he thought he was imagining it. Two sweaters, and a change to a tank top later, Luke was convinced something was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when a loud knock came at his front door. Nobody ever knocked, certainly not loudly. 

He made his way to the door, wiping the sweat off his brow on his way. He wasn't expecting the first words he heard upon opening it, although knowing what he did of Strange Neighbor, he probably shouldn't have been too shocked. 

“Oh, God, please tell me you're not Mrs.Hemmings’s sugar baby,” Strange Neighbor said, giving Luke a once-over. 

“No, I'm her grandson, Luke. Why would you think that?” Luke replied, slightly appalled. 

“I haven't seen you here before, man. I dunno her life. Is she around?”

“No, she's been gone for a week. I've been looking after the place for her. How did you not notice? And what's your name?”

“Ashton, and what does it matter that I didn't notice? In any event, you should probably leave your unit for a bit. Why don't you come into mine.”

Luke followed Ashton into the front yard, but stopped before they could reach his door. 

“Wait, why? What's up?”

“Well, funny story, actually. I was trying to find some of my decorations, and I fucked up the heater pretty bad. It got so hot I couldn't touch it, let alone fix it. It's gonna be hot in both the units until the company can come fix it, but yours is closer to the heater than mine and I think you could actually get heat stroke from it. Sorry.”

“So that's what that bang was? How did you manage that?”

“Listen, I have a very specific set of skills, and none of them involve tact. And I really am sorry about this. We could go out, but there's a storm warning and I'm not entirely sure we'd make it alive. Come on in.”

Ashton’s home looked exactly like Luke’s grandmother’s, although a bit more decorated. It wasn't messy, or even filled with eclectic body parts like Luke had grown to expect. It was nice even, and was slightly cooler than Luke’s. Slightly. 

“So do you really not check on my grandma ever? Isn't that part of being the landlord for an old woman?”

“We have dinner every Monday. And I check on her every day at around 5. I've seen her car there, so I didn't worry at all when she didn't answer. I figured she was busy.”

“Oh. Well. That's very nice of you, then. I'm sorry. Did she not tell you she was going?”

“It's possible she did, I've been a bit preoccupied lately. Is she having fun?”

“Oh for sure. She's in the Caribbean I think. Avoiding family Christmas this year.”

“Avoiding it? Why?”

“Lots of arguing, unless you hang with the kids like I do, and the food is always burnt. I dunno. It's just not really the kind of person she is, the kind of people we are, really.”

“I'm sorry man, that's not easy. She should've taken you with her.”

“Nah, I'd miss the kids too much. We only see each other once a year, basically, so I couldn't miss it. Not really. I just like complaining.”

“Speaking of,” Ashton said, “would it be alright if I took my shirt off? I run hot to begin with, and I'm pretty sure I'll melt with how bad this is getting.”

“Go for it,” Luke replied, biting his tongue about how this was entirely avoidable, if only Ashton could stop his chaos while near fragile house equipment. 

All of his anger melted away, about everything honestly, when Ashton’s sweater came off. He was built a bit like a god, and a bit like a swimmer. His biceps, God his biceps, looked like they could be the size of Luke’s head. His skin was a golden-brown, uneven from the various activities he no doubt did. He was beautiful, and Luke was so, *so* bi. It honestly hurt sometimes.

Perhaps that's why he didn't notice the “good god” that fell out of his mouth, causing Ashton to flash him a smile that was quite a bit like the sun. How had Luke not noticed how hot he was? Maybe he wasn't. Maybe it was just the heat of the complex getting to him. And yeah, he was lying to himself in even considering it, but it felt nicer than the truth. 

“So,” he started instead, to keep his mind off the curly hair and chiseled abs sweating in front of him “what's with all the banging?” And yeah, it sounded better in his head. Ashton’s slightly horrified face was almost worth it. 

“Um,” Ashton replied cautiously, “I used to drum, before I moved to Montana. I couldn't bring the kit, but the habit of tapping on every goddamn hard surface around me just kinda stuck. I'm sorry if it's annoying. I mean, Christ, of course it's annoying. It's annoying to me, but I can't stop, really.”

Luke suddenly, and unexpectedly, felt bad. 

“No, no, I just always kinda thought you must've been, like killing people, or something. It's not annoying, just strange. Why're you always up at like 4am though?”

“I get up at 8, not 4. How late do you sleep?”

Okay, so *maybe* Ashton wasn't as crazy as Luke had made him out to be in his head. 

“I dunno. Like, noon, usually I think. I don't have a job with hours, so I just get up whenever.”

“What do you do, then?”

“I write articles, mostly. Music stuff. I do some math walkthroughs too, though. But that's just cause I'm good at math and I remember seeing all my classmates crying. It was awful.”

“That's actually really sweet. You know, your grandma talks a lot about you. She always said you had red hair though.”

“Does she? I dyed it once when I was 17. Must've stuck with her. What about you?”

“I work at the music shop in town. The owner is about to retire, and she's giving it to me afterwards, which’ll be awesome. I'll totally give you discounts if you want!”

“Are you serious? I just met you, and I spent like half of it bitching you out.”

“Yeah, but you're cute. And your grandma is my friend, and she’ll never use any discount I give her. She only listens to Frank Zappa, as far as I can tell. Which is really strange.”

“Wait,” Luke said, blushing “did you just call me cute?”

“Yeah,” Ashton replied, totally unfazed, “I mean, you are. And, like, the tact thing I said earlier? It applies to conversations, too. Was it a bad thing? Should I not have? Mrs.Hemmings doesn't mind that I'm gay, so I figured her grandkids had to be at least that good. And, to be honest, my bi-fi sensor had a strong signal coming off you.”

“No, no. Good instincts. Just. People usually say I'm weird looking. You are too though,” and upon seeing Ashton’s slightly amused, slightly perplexed look, Luke amended “cute, I mean. Not weird looking. Though your dimples are kinda wild. But, like. A good kind. You're hot, too,” before he gave up with a soft groan, his head in his hands. 

“Hey hey, it's okay. You're alright. I'm not insulted or anything.”

“No, but I've totally embarrassed myself.”

“You haven't! I just took my shirt off in front of a stranger, after breaking our house, and told him I think he's cute. Who do you thinks embarrassed themselves?”

Ashton had moved from his leather armchair, with an unpleasant-sounding unsticking, and sat next to Luke on the couch. 

“Both of us?” Luke asked with a shy glimmer in his eyes. 

“You know what? That's fair. But I think that technically means that neither of us should feel bad, right? If we're both dumb, and we’re both cute, then hey, maybe that's just something else in common, yeah?”

Luke actually laughed out loud at this. 

“You know I kinda hated you a bit? You just seemed so strange.”

“You don't anymore though, right?” Ashton asked, getting ever-closer. 

“No, not anymore. I actually quite like you, I think. You're kinda great.”

“Good,” Ashton replied, before looking Luke in the eyes, and saying “look, this could be heat stroke or something, and if it is I'm *really* sorry on like nine levels, but I'd really like to kiss you, and I think you'd like that, right?”

“Yeah, I'd like that. And technically if it's heat stroke it'd have to be way hotter.”

“So I can kiss you, then?” Ashton asked, grabbing Luke’s chin. 

When Luke nodded in the affirmative, Ashton wasted no time in meeting their lips. It was hot, and a bit sweaty, neither in entirely fun ways. Luke’s lip ring was actually burning a bit, but Ashton’s lips were plump and hot and *there*. It was great. Until the doorbell rang. 

They could only laugh, but as Ashton walked to the door he said “you know, I think your grandma might evict me.”

“Don't you own the unit?” Luke replied, laughing and totally at peace. 

“I mean yes, but she's a pretty powerful woman.”

“Is it worth it?”

“Eh, yeah. I could probably live in the shop. I've slept under those counters more times than I'd like to admit.”

The man at the door was, of course, the repairman. With a pair of thermal gloves and about ten minutes, the heater was no longer cosplaying a volcano, which was nice. Both units, due to the storm, cooled down to an appropriate temperature fairly quickly. Luke didn't go back to his grandma’s until about 11pm, though. 

There was a little bit more kissing, and a lot of great conversation. Ashton put his shirt back on, though, which was a little awful. Overall, though, it was a great evening, and probably a start to something wonderful. It was also a story that Luke could tell to stop his uncles from talking about which form of government was best, which was always a plus.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6 done!


End file.
